[Sca-cooks] oop ot help cabbage rolls

[Olwen the Odd]

>Help - I want to get a good cabbage roll recipe, one that doesn't use
>catsup
>or canned soup....a REAL recipe that calls for long slow cooking, layers of
>little cabbage rolls drenched in tomato puree and paste!
>
>All I can find online is infernal cabbage roll casserole, cabbage roll
>soup,
>and cabbage rolls made with soup and catsup ;-(
>
>margali
>pretty please?
>--

Margali here is what I do.  I cann't give you exact measures because I don't
measure anything though.  I can tell you that when friends finally talk me
into making them they come with tupperware.

core and steam the cabbage head(s), for me it's two and a half large heads,
and peel apart the leaves.  Don't toss out the all tough outside leaves just
wash them and stick them in the steamer as well to put in the bottom of the
baking pan after you cut the hard rib off.

mix together ground beef, lamb and pork or turkey
add enough cooked rice to give it some stickyness but not 'ricey'
chopped onion
garlic
ground pepper or cubebs and salt
fresh sage
fresh tarragon
fresh thyme
fresh oregano
a little ground mustard seed
hot paprika
egg

put appropriate amount in each leaf and wrap up like an eggroll and set in
little rows in the oiled baking pan on top of a couple of the bigger leaves.
  Over each layer pour some of a mixture of canned tomato sauce, canned
crushed tomatoes mixed with cans of stewed tomatoes (you can use the
flavored ones if you like) just make sure it is liquid enough for the amount
of cooking that will be going on. On the top of the top layer I put extra
canned tomatoes that I crush with my hand and then a layer of cabbage leaves
with the last of the sauce thrown on.

Now I only have one aluminum pan and it is a large rectangle about 6 inches
deep and I fill this pan up to the top.  Don't know why but the taint from
the aluminum is the secret to these.  I cover the pan with a couple layers
of heavy duty aluminum foil and

put it in a very slow oven either overnight or all day then take it out of
the oven and directly into the fridge (yeah, I know) for the day or night

then back to the slow oven for the day/night, back to the fridge for another
day/night

then back to the oven for the day/night, back to the fridge and

on the fourth day the gang comes over and we heat it up and have at it.  I
do not open the pan up at all during this cooking process unless it smells
like it is running low on liquid.

Ok.  I'm nuts.
Olwen

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